Looking good this morning, sun was out and there was a bit of a haze hanging over the fields. Not too much wind, dry and warming up. A long ride was in the making. I started out by following some orange markers from Blanden to Korbeek-Dyle, then along the Sint Jansberg steenweg towards Hoegaarden where the Smeysberg was waiting, all 17% of it. Down the Holsheide and the up towards Ottenburg. Eerken, Pecrot and Nethen were next. The orange smilie next to the 'Helling' marker at the start of the Tienne Vincent was grim and I saw my gradient reach 20% during that climb. Back down again and onwards to Hamme Mille, Beauvechain, Meldert and then over Sint Katelijne Hautem to Hoegaarden. 35km into the ride and already around 400 heightmeters. A solid start. The sun was bringing more warmth to the land and I noticed I forgot to add my electrolyte powder to my drinking bottle. Hmm, lets hope I won't bonk.
The orange markers pointed towards Outgaarden but I will pick up on them during another ride. For now I rode along the Ravel 2 towards Jodoigne and Eghezee. I stopped to take a picture of one of the sculptures along the ravel just past Jodoigne. This looked like a cat.